Florida State fired second-year football coach Willie Taggart on Sunday, less than 24 hours after the Seminoles lost to rival Miami and with the team in danger of missing a bowl game for the second consecutive season.
Taggart, 43, was 9-12 at Florida State, which won the national title in 2013 and has been in a freefall for the past three seasons. The Seminoles have not been ranked this season, are 0-5 against rivals Miami, Florida and Clemson under Taggart and attendance for games at Doak Campbell Stadium has plummeted.
"We had no choice but to make a change," Florida State President John Thrasher said.
The school said longtime Florida State assistant Odell Haggins has been asked to take over as interim coach for the remainder of the season. Haggins was 2-0 as the interim in 2017, after Jimbo Fisher left Florida State for Texas A&M in December.
Big Green's big play
Derek Kyler connected with Masaki Aerts for the game's only touchdown, a 43-yard scoring strike on the final play, and visiting Dartmouth stunned Harvard 9-6 on Saturday to remain unbeaten.
The Big Green (7-0, 4-0 Ivy League), ranked 14th in the FCS coaches poll, managed only a 42-yard field goal by Connor Davis with 59 seconds left before halftime before Kyler's game-winning toss, which capped a 96-yard drive.
Jake McIntyre kicked a 41-yard field goal midway through the first quarter to give the Crimson (4-3, 2-2) a 3-0 lead. McIntyre's 38-yard field goal with 9:48 left in the third quarter gave Harvard the lead until the final play.
Harvard (4-3, 2-2) looked as if it had sewn the game up when Kyler fumbled the ball on a sack at the Dartmouth 9 with 1:19 to play. The Crimson ran three plays and forced the Big Green to use its final two timeouts. But the Crimson, bypassing the option to kick a 43-yard field goal, turned the ball over on downs at the Dartmouth 4.
